The Blackwing Story

Some of the world’s most legendary Grammy, Emmy, Pulitzer and Academy Award winners have created with Blackwing pencils. The list of known users includes John Steinbeck, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Chuck Jones, who proudly used Blackwings to create Bugs Bunny and countless other Looney Tunes characters.

Its roots go back to the 1930’s when it was first introduced by Eberhard Faber. In 1998, after several corporate acquisitions, it was discontinued, but not forgotten. In fact, fans began paying as much as $40 on eBay for a single Blackwing pencil.

Artists from across the world soon noticed that Palomino’s range of premium pencils provided a comparable performance to the Blackwing and asked them to consider reviving the iconic brand. Palomino founder and CEO Charles Berolzheimer, whose family’s roots in the pencil industry date back to the mid 19th century, used his unique supply relationships to re-introduce the Blackwing pencil, both in its original form (the “602”) for devotees, writers and everyday users, as well as a modified version with a slightly softer lead for artists.

Claimed by many to be the best writing utensil in the world, Blackwing pencils are famous for the quality of graphite, iconic shape, and the men and women whose works they’ve inspired throughout the years. Building upon the popularity of Blackwing pencils, Palomino recently released a unique line of luxury notebooks, sketchbooks and folios that help inspire your ideas from pencil to paper, from cultivation to culmination.